Shabbir's Diary

Google search v2

Last week while I was in San Francisco I picked up the new Google Search desktop tool.  I had the first one but found it occasionally frustrating, and I didn't enjoy having it index my hard drive, which seemed to take forever.

My first full day back

So it's my first full day back from "paternity leave".  I've been calling it "maternity leave", only to have Sarah correct my gender choice for the phrase.  I only beg to differ because "paternity leave" sounds like someone forced me to take responsibility for a child I was denying was actually mine.  But here, in front of all of you, I admit it.  Sarah is my baby momma.

NYT Magazine: How to judge a judge

On Sunday, I started out my day in the Mission in CA and said to Sarah and a friend, "The NYT Magazine is the only thing worth reading in the Sunday paper!"

Ok, so I'm full of crap. 

Cell Phone Finder

A while ago I was asked by my friend Jennifer to help her find a Bluetooth phone to use with her carrier.  It wasn't impossible to do, but the information was spread out in different places.  Knowing what phones I had available was only part of the puzzle, I then had to figure out such obscure things, such as, "Had Jennifer's carrier crippled her Bluetooth stack?"  Using a combination of CNet and the carrier's website, I dug up her answers.

Poker raid in Texas

This Poker Raid story mentions profits of five to ten thousand dollars per night.  It's almost certainly a lie.  Here's how you can tell.

Are we running out of oil?

You know how oil is made, right?  Old dinosaurs and plants decay for thousands of years and turn into that golden sludge we have become so addicted to.  So then you know that "Are we running out of oil?" isn't really the question.  Since the planet is finite, there isn't an infinite supply.

The question is posed by the NYT Magazine this past Sunday was "When will we run out of oil?"  (Link: The Breaking Point - New York Times).  The answer may be "soon".

Tearfully but Forcefully, Israel Removes Gaza Settlers - New York Times

Holocaust historians often complain that as World War 2 fades from history, every new generation is less and less familiar with the atrocities of the Nazis.  This is a valid concern, every  new generation will find that the horrors of the Holocaust carry less weight because they are more distant in history.

San Francisco

You know, on Animal Farm the pigs finally got their comeuppance.  I try to remember that when I see someone try and park in a space too small for them here on the streets of the Mission in San Francisco, and block us in our driveway.

Cookin' for chemotherapy

You haven’t heard from me in a while.  I’m finishing my paternity leave on a three week cross country tour visiting the relatives who are too sick to travel.  I spent the first week in my home town, St. Louis, because my mom has cancer.  The whole family has circled the wagons, as you might expect, and so I’m home doing my part.  Of course our family is highly competitive, and so regardless of how sick anyone is, there’s a game ready to be contested.  Tonight it was Spinners, a version of dominoes with wild cards.

 

Testing BlogJet

I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com

"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso